Andy Dalton took the field at Paul Brown Stadium for the first time since his career ascension took a dramatic hit in the playoffs against San Diego. He ran between the lines in front of fans for the first time since accepting a $96-million contract that polarized pundits and served up a softball for every sports talk show in the city.

The fourth-year quarterback met the moment with perfection. And a smile.

Dalton went 8 for 8 for for 144 yards, threw one touchdown, scored 17 points on three drives and tucked a perfect 158.3 passer rating under his cap on the sidelines.

"He's having fun," offensive coordinator Hue Jackson said. "At the end of the day, I think he's playing big-time football. He's leading the offensive team. They believe in him and he believes in them."

Hard not to believe in Dalton, even if this showing did come in the preseason against a banged up Jets secondary. He's now 11 of 13 for 215 yards and a touchdown this year. The Bengals have scored two touchdowns and two field goals on his four possessions.

Cincinnati Bengals outside linebacker Vontaze Burfict (55) went down with an injury in the first quarter but returned to the game against the New York Jets at Paul Brown Stadium. The Enquirer/Jeff Swinger

Cincinnati Bengals running back Giovani Bernard (25) with the help of his lineman pushes their way across the end zone for a first quarter touchdown against the New York Jets at Paul Brown Stadium. The Enquirer/Jeff Swinger

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Call it fun, call it experienced, call it enjoying the system, opinions differ why Dalton's been so sharp depending on whose answering the question. Regardless, the numbers don't lie.

"That's about as good as it gets in the preseason, I guess," Dalton said. "It just felt good out there. We are all in sync, moving the ball, got some big check plays and score points. That's what you want."

The team ran no-huddle during his three possessions and utilized Dalton's mastery of the system to check into multiple plays that made for big gains. One of those was a 21-yard third-down reception by A.J. Green.

Maybe his best play of the night wasn't a check, but symptom to the dedication and success of the running game. Dalton dropped back after a series of runs and screens to hit a hard play action that brought the safety and corner up enough to send Mohamed Sanu on a post over the top of them. The ball fell perfectly into his arms for a 43-yard touchdown. The pass had to be placed in one spot in order to hit paydirt. Dalton dropped a dime.

"It was outstanding, wasn't it?" Jackson said with a wide smile. "What a throw. What a throw. That's the thing everybody says he can't do he is doing."

The knock on Dalton's arm strength and deep ball proficiency followed him since being drafted out of TCU. Although, last year only Peyton Manning connected on more passes longer than 20 yards and Dalton ranked eighth in the NFL in deep passing accuracy, according to Pro Football Focus.

Looking around at the weapons surrounding him and comfort level with the system under Jackson, very early returns say he could leave the stat heads recounting stats again. No worry for Dalton, he's just going to keep enjoying himself. On nights like Saturday, it's tough not to.

"When you're out making plays and doing things like we did tonight, it is a lot of fun," he said. "It's still the game that you played when you were little."

The microscope wasn't quite this pronounced on the pee-wee fields of Katy, Texas. The man with the recently ballooned bank account doesn't seem to mind. The reaction of the fans who question the contract won't be a topic of discussion, either, if he can roll over this success to the season.